Consumer products and other tagged elements are efficiently tracked anywhere in a supply and distribution chain when electronic tags are affixed to the elements. The information content of the tag may be provided by the manufacturer, the distributor, the retailer or any other entity in the supply and distribution chain. Electronic tags are electronically read by electronic readers (communicators) when the tags are within range. For example, electronic tags are read at the point of sale of a product by a tag reader located at a checkout station.
Often electronic tags are affixed to goods in a manner such that the tags are easily seen and accessed by a prospective purchaser of the goods or by others. Also, tags often are not permanently affixed to goods and hence the tags can be removed. For these and other reasons, tampering with electronic tags presents a problem that needs to be addressed.
In retail and other environments, electronic tags are affixed to goods and such affixing often requires a burdensome process whereby each one of the goods needs to be manually handled to affix the tag.
In manufacturing environments, systems are well known for reading tagged elements at different manufacturing stages. The tags are affixed to elements at any stage from an initial stage, through intermediate stages (work-in-process stages) to a final stage. Finished goods are produced as an output from the final stage. In the manufacturing of electronic equipment, typically semiconductor devices are processed in a first processing chain and then processed in a second chain to form electronic circuit boards. Thereafter, third and additional processing chains occur to form the final electronic equipment. Such equipment includes cell phones, computers, cameras, routers, televisions, personal data assistants (PDA's) and other electronic devices. While electronic tags have been widely used in manufacturing processes, the tags used in manufacturing processes have not been effectively used in the retail environment.
In light of the foregoing background, there is a need for improved tags and systems for tracking elements using electronic tags.